576 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 13, 1893. 
enough to irrigate half England is flowing 
by unused. On the other hand, in thousands 
of gardens the resources of the water supply 
are being tested to the utmost, and well is 
it for those who have abundance. Still, 
nothing man can do equals what a good 
rain can accomplish. 
ushroom Culture.— Let old Mushroom 
experts awake. Here is a new dis¬ 
covery that should make them sit up. It 
is found, so we are gravely told, that if 
instead of making beds of solid manure they 
be composed of layers of manure and soil 
alternately, a much larger crop resulted. 
After all, is it still true that there is nothing 
new under the sun ? How many of the old 
Mushroom growers were there who tried 
every method, this so-called new one 
amongst the rest, in days gone by and 
finally gave all up in favour of the solid 
manure bed, well and properly prepared. 
When we are told that as compared with 
solid manure bedsthe alternate layer system 
gives the best results, we ask for conclusive 
proof, as mere assertion will satisfy no one. 
Still further—what of the solid manure beds 
against which the new method beds were 
tested ; were they well and properly made, 
or only imperfectly ? Every successful 
Mushroom grower knows that he employs 
manure specially to furnish a medium in 
which spawn can readily operate, and which 
also furnishes what soil never will give, all 
possible warmth of a steady and enduring 
kind. It may be that the layers of soil help 
to retain moisture, but then -when manure 
beds give out because of dryness the fault 
lies with the grower and not with the 
material. 
How often, too, are manure beds for 
Mushrooms made up without due prepara¬ 
tion ; indeed the chief hope for success lies 
in having the heating material sweet, well 
mixed and heated, yet slow and lasting in 
its operation. We take it for granted, from 
long knowledge and experience, that our 
Mushroom growers now have little to learn, 
and still further could give some of their 
theoretical instructors many points. 
f RESs. —There are very few persons, per¬ 
haps, who, as they strolled beside our 
British streams and ditches 'and have 
admired the pretty flowers of the Ladies’ 
Smock (Cardamine pratensis), have at the 
same time imagined that leaves of this plant 
are, or perhaps to be more correct, have 
been, eaten as salad, indeed classed as 
an ordinary Cress. We have often admired 
the pretty double form of the Cuckoo 
Flower in gardens, where it forms in the 
spring a distinctly pretty plant, but eating 
the leaves as salad has not been suggested. 
Then we have about the country, almost 
everywhere, the common Land, or, as it is 
usually called, American Cress. This is 
more properly a salad, but even at its best 
is very hot and acrid. 
We have, in the common Curled or 
Normandy Cress, a variety, which, raised by 
thick sowing and cut in its young condition, 
is deliciously mild, tender, and healthful. 
That is a salad plant we can have all the 
year round if we have a warm house or 
frame to raise it in during the winter. But 
best of all is the soft, tender, crisp Water¬ 
cress grown almost all over the world, and 
a hardy Nasturtium to boot. Even of this 
we too rarely care to grow our own, although 
it can be had in plenty with very little 
trouble. It is but needful to sow seed or 
dibble out tops into a shady place in good 
clean soil and water liberally, forming 
round the bed a slightly raised ridge of soil 
to hold water. 
From such a planting really delicious 
Cress can be obtained over a long season, 
and it has the merit of being clean and 
healthful, which is more than can be said 
of some we purchase that come from water 
contaminated with sewage or is stagnant 
and foul. It would be good for our health 
did we much more freely partake of good 
sweet Cress. 
’Y^abbits. — Of all pests in a garden pro- 
bably the rabbit is the worst. It is 
most destructive, not from a love of 
mischief as some people foolishly assert, 
but because it wants food and is naturally 
voracious. Still we do not find, thanks to 
stout mesh -wire, which can be had cheaply, 
that it is at all difficult to exclude rabbits 
from gardens ; indeed, it is almost only 
through such aid that exclusion is possible 
except where enclosures are close fenced. 
Rarely are rabbits so plentiful that gar¬ 
deners do not know how to make a 
profitable use of them when destroyed, 
whilst there are literally millions of 
people who would be only too glad to get 
many and often. 
Hence it does read to us as somewhat 
exasperating that there should be literally 
a plague of rodents in Australia, so that 
rewards are offered for their extermination, 
whilst at home even the smallest cannot be 
purchased in towns under is. each. Why 
do not the colonists promote a rabbit 
trading company which shall kill the 
vermin, skin them, and then send them 
over here in refrigerating chambers, where 
they could profitably be sold at 6d. each. 
What an immense demand would then 
spring up for this young flesh food ! Oddly 
enough, whilst reading as it were one 
moment of the terrible plague of rabbits in 
Australia, we read the next of a book lately 
written by Mr. J. Simpson, of Wortley, 
who suggests methods for the propagation 
and culture of these creatures with a view 
to their utilisation as food for the people. 
To Mr. Simpson’s suggestion the gar¬ 
dener will lend a not unwilling ear, no 
doubt because he has learnt to appreciate 
rabbit flesh in a cooked state. So long as 
the animals are rigidly restricted to warrens 
or coverts then, we do not see why they 
should not become important articles of 
commerce. In gardens or orchards under 
no conditions may they be tolerated for a 
day. 
-•*-- 
The Imperial Institute. —We understand that the 
bright green lawns at the Imperial Institute, which 
was opened by the Queen on Wednesday, were sown 
with Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ Lawn Grass Seeds. 
The Season and the Carnations.—Mr. Dodwell, 
replying to the enquiry of his friend, Mr. Wynn 
Ffoulkes, as to whether he, Mr. D., had known of 
any similarly early season, writes :—“ We have to go 
so far back as 1846 for any parallel, so far as I know. 
Then we had Pinks blooming in May, Carnations in 
June, Dahlias in July—a very early and an abnor¬ 
mally transient bloom, the period for growth having 
been so materially shortened. Unless a great 
change should promptly come retarding the present 
rapid development, our exhibition meetings must of 
necessity be materially early in their dates.” 
Scottish Horticultural Assosiation.—The usual 
monthly meeting took place on the 2nd inst., at 5, 
St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh, Councillor Mac¬ 
kenzie, the president, in the chair. There was a 
large attendance. A paper on “ North America and 
its Flora,” by Mr. Alexander Hutton, F.L.S., 
Dundee, was read by Mr. Hugh Fraser. It was 
stated that the flora of North America had strongly 
marked features of distribution, the plants of the 
far North belonging in many instances to species 
also found in Europe and Northern Asia. America, 
in respect of its flora, it might be said, was divided 
into two great regions, the Northern being charac¬ 
terised by an abundant arborescent flora, while in 
the Southern regions the vegetation somewhat 
resembled that of the tropics. Special reference 
was made, in dealing with the flora west of the 
Rocky Mountains, to the family of Pines, which 
attained great perfection in that locality. On the 
motion of Mr. R. Lindsay, Royal Botanic Garden, 
the secretary was instructed to convey the thanks of 
the Society to Mr. Hutton. Satisfactory reports 
were submitted as to the results of the examinations 
in connection with the past season’s (technical 
education grant) lectures. 
Royal Botanic Society.—The first of a series of 
summer lectures on botanical subjects was given on 
the 5th inst. in the gardens of this society by 
Professor Groves, F.L.S. Taking the subject of 
“ Ferns and their Structure,” the lecturer dealt in a 
popular way with the peculiarities of growth which 
separate this family from other plants, and enable us 
to combine the 3,000 or more species known into an 
easily recognised and distinctive natural group. 
Unlike other plants, whose leaves are at most the 
production of the previous autumn, most Ferns 
carry their fronds for three years, folded up at the 
base of the old leaves. If a plant is divided down 
the centre, the three rings of fronds are clearly 
shown lying rolled up in a more or less mature state 
according as they are to open this year, next year, 
or that following. A cordial vote of thanks to the 
lecturer was proposed by the chairman, Dr. R. C. A. 
Prior, F.L.S. The succeeding lectures will be given 
on the Fridays in May and June, and are free to all 
visitors to the Gardens. 
Gardening Cricket. —We are indebted to the 
courtesy of the assistant secretary of Sutton's Cricket 
Club, which has its headquarters at Reading, for a 
copy of the club’s match list for the present year, 
which is a somewhat lengthy one. The club, it 
appears, is strong enough to run three teams, two 
seniors and a junior, and opened its season on Wed¬ 
nesday wdth matches at Reading and Strathfield- 
saye. No less than fifty matches are arranged for 
the season, the last of which will be played on Sep¬ 
tember 6th. The matches of special horticultural 
interest will be those played at Swanmore Park, on 
June 14th, and that against the Kingston and Surbi¬ 
ton Gardeners’ United at Reading on July 5th. 
A Rare Fungus.—Another new fungus has been 
found in Cornwall, and is of the rarest description, 
and many fungologists have failed to identify the 
specimen, but the Linnean Society, whose property 
it now is, have given its name as Lentinus lepidens. 
In appearance it is as a bunch of fingers, from 2J in. 
to 5 in. long, each separately fastened to a common 
matrix which is an abnormal form. It was found in 
Levant mine, and was growing downward from some 
wet timber supports. 
Affairs as they are in Cornwall—Still without rain, 
but the wind has changed, and even the heavy dews 
have come to be mingled amongst the blessings of 
the market gardener. It cannot be said that matters, 
after all, are as bad as they might be. The Straw¬ 
berries have turned out better by far than was 
anticipated, and some very fine specimens, and in 
large quantities, have found their way this week to 
Covent Garden and the Midlands. Gooseberries, too, 
are by no means scarce. A visit to the Glensive 
Vineries reminds one of sunny Italy, and certain it is 
that Grape culture was never more successful than 
now in the west of England. The clusters are 
remarkably rich, and with them the scissors have 
been busy throughout the week. Nearly a ton in 
weight have been supplied the London markets from 
one district alone. Mr. Body, of the Land's End 
Vinery, has a splendid photograph of the cluster of 
Grapes last presented to and acknowledged by Her 
Majesty. Peas are pretty abundant, but the pods 
in most cases are woefully undeveloped. New 
Potatos, although small, are yielding much better 
than was anticipated. Floriculture is being pro¬ 
secuted under difficulties. We learn that Mr. J. C. 
Kellork has in his garden at Hi'ghfield, Totnes, an 
American Aloe in bloom, and it has been the subject 
of inspection by many people. 
A Garden Dispute.—At Newport County Police- 
court on Saturday, Edwin Basham, market gardener, 
was summoned for wilfully damaging Cabbage 
stumps, the property of Michael McCarthy. The 
defendant cut down the Cabbage stumps in flower 
in complainant's allotment because, as was alleged, 
the bees carried the pollen to some rare Cabbage 
which was being grown in defendant s ground across 
the road for the express purpose of obtaining seed. 
Defendant offered to give complainant seed or 
Cabbage plants, and complained that had the com¬ 
plainant’s Cabbage been allowed to bloom a loss of 
£20 would have resulted to him. The Bench dis¬ 
missed the case, and complainant had to pay costs. 
